Materials handling system



June 1944- G. A. SPALDING' ETAL 2,350,425

MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM File d March 2, 1942 TSheets-Shee: 1 v

6507 e diva/dz}? & m5? 9 4212: I I v 4 June 1944- G. A. SPALDING ETAL' 2,350,425

MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM 'Filed March 2, 1942 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 9 2 3twento1s 6607 46 62. Spa/(2 1179 at June 6, 1944- G. A. SPALDING ETAL MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 2, 1942 llllllllllllllluulllilll I Enventors d .ipaia 65 s. Wa /e June 1944- I G. A. SPALDING El'AL' 2,350,425

MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM Filed March 2, 1942 I '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 g 4 'I 1 v ISnyentors 4- fieaq'qe 6L5paZdzzzg8 Wizy 62. 5 4222254 June 6, 1944. ca. A. SPALDING ETAL 2,350,425

' MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM I Filed March 2, 1942 v 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 ISnnentors 9; (Ittpmegs June 1944- e. A. SPALDING ET AL 2,350,425

MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM Filed March 2, 1942 7 Sheets-Sheet e 3 t r Goye 62. .Spa/dzbg s YZYaZey Q. Palms? W 7 Ottornegs Jww 6, 19 e. A. SPALDING E TAL 35 MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM Filed March 2 1942 7' Sheets-Sheet '7 6607 By 7725? lqyfl. aZme Z v I attorneys Patented June 6, 1944 2,350,425 MATERIALS HANDLING SYSTEM GeorgeA. Spalding and Marley A. Palmer, Flint,

Mich., assignors to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Micla, a corporation of Delaware PATENT OFFICE,

Application March 2, 1942, Serial No. 433,022

' 9 Claims.

I apparatus for efficiently handling the stock fed to a forming machine without the intervention of human beings. Specifically, it is apparatus which automatically feeds cut rod stock to a furnace where the stock is heated for a predetermined length of time and thence to a press having a number of forming dies which give the rod stock its finished form, in this case an internal combustion engine valve. The particular apparatus comprises an endless belt conveyor to which cut rod stock is fed from a hopper. The conveyor transports the cut stock to a distributor which is located at an elevated position to permit gravity feed of the cut stock to the remaining work stations. In the distributor the work pieces or cut stock are stacked above a plurality of rollers which are driven together so as to take work pieces from the stacks in a predetermined sequence and drop them through a chute to a furnace comprising a battery of heaters. From the furnace the heated stock is fed through a chute to the die of the press.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows the apparatus in elevation.

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail view, with parts broken away and in section, of the conveyor at the supply station or place where the work pieces are fed to the conveyor from the supply hopper.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view with parts broken away and in section showing the construction of the distributor.

Figure 4 is an enlarged View, partially in section, showing details of the distributor and timer the Figure 8 is a view in section substantially on line 8- -8 of Figure 1. t

Figure 9 is an enlarged detail view of aportion of the chute which conducts work pieces from the furnace to the forming machine. Specifically, this figure shows the gate mechanism for blocking the passage of work pieces to the machine.

Figure 10 is a view in section substantially online l0l0 of Figure 8.

Referring now to Figure 1, It indicates diagrammatically any suitable cutter for cutting the rod stock into the desired lengths. The rod stock may be furnished in coil form or in any other satisfactory manner. A roller or grinder of some sort, not shown, may if desired be provided to remove burrs formed by the cutter. A loading device I2 is shown which may be a hopper adapted to receive the. work pieces from the cutter and to transmit them by gravity feed to a conveyor l4. Conveyor I4 is conveniently made in the form of an endless belt. Any suitable take-up or tightening device indicated gen-. erally by It may be provided to keep the conveyor belt at the desired tension. The conveyor may conveniently be driven by press Hi from bull wheel 20 through chain-and-sprocket drive 22, shaft 24 and bevel gear drive 26.

Conveyor I4 delivers the work pieces to a distributor indicated generally by 28 in which the work pieces are stacked and fed to a furnace 30 comprising a battery of individual heaters 32. From the furnace the heated work pieces are gravity fed through chute 34 to press It.

The details of the press are not given here. The press may be the same as or similar to the one disclosed and claimed in the copending application S. N. 367,534, of Lloyd Blackmore and Marx C. Kristek, filed November 28, 1940 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

Referring now to Figure 2, conveyor 14 is seen to comprise an endless chain of links 36 each of which has a projection or extension 38 in which may be one or more recesses 40 adapted to receive work pieces 42. Work pieces 42 are supplied to the conveyor from hopper I2 by gravity feed, as clearly shown inFigure 2, through a chute 44. Chute 44 is preferably made to confor the material receiving recesses 40. Itwill be understood that wall 46 extends the length of travel of conveyor M for so far as is necessary to retain work pieces in the recesses.

As can be seen in detail in Figure 3, distributor 28 is positioned to receive work pieces from the discharging end of conveyor l4. A plurality of stacking means 49 are provided for receiving work pieces 42 from the conveyor and arranging them in vertical stacks of single rows above a plurality of rolls 60. Theserolls are provided with recesses 62 adapted to receive work pieces as the rolls are rotated to bring their respective recesses in alignment with the corresponding stacks of work pieces. As seen inFigure 3, rolls 50 rotate clockwise. A retainer 54 having the general contour of its cooperating roll is provided to keep work pieces 42 from falling out of recess 52 until the recess has reached a predetermined position. This position is shown as being the lowermost point of recess 52, 180 from the position in which recess 62 receives a work piece, but it will be understood that any other convenient position could be used. As can be seen in the drawing, recesses 52 are so arranged as to occupy angular positions 60 apart, from roll to roll. The rolls are driven synchronously, i. e., geared so as to be driven together. There are six of these rolls so that a work piece is dis- .charged for every 60'degrees angular displacement of any given roll.

A chute 56 is disposed below each roll in position to receive pieces as they are discharged from the recesses in the rolls. As better seen tory means such, for example, as a rod extending across the chute in position to be struck by one end of work piece 42, or any other suitable stop or projection could be provided. Access to the space in chutes 56 may be had through a door 60 hinged as at 62 and provided with any satisfactory latch means 63 comprising a guide block 64, a keeper 65 and a handle 68. See Figure 3. Y

The details of the heater units of furnace 30 :are not set forth here. This furnace is sub- .stantially' the same as the one disclosed and claimed in the copending application S. N. 401,888 of Harold F. Howard and William Richards, filed July 11, 1941, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Briefly, however, the furnace comprises six heater units 32. Heaters 32 are positioned to receive work pieces from the chutes 56. to which the pieces are fed from rollers 50. Below each heater unit there isdisposed a stop 61 mounted on a reciprocable arm 68 which slides in support I0. A link 12 connects arm 68 with a lever I4 which is pivoted at I6. An operating member I8 is connected to a lever I4 through link 80. Member 18 is reciprocably mounted in a housing 82 and is provided with a downwardly extending member 84 serving as a cam follower, positioned to be engaged by a.cam 86 in order to move member I8 to the right as seen in Figure 4, rotating lever I4 clockwise to withdraw stop 61 to the dotted line position of Figure 4, out of work holding position. A spring 88 may be provided in housing 82 tobias member I8 and stop 61 and their associating linkages into position for holding work piece 42 in the heater. The linkage from stop 61 to and including operating member 18 is the same for the ,flve other heater units of the furnace. Cam 86 is but one of six similar cams mounted on shaft to rotate together. The lobes are arranged sixty angular degrees apart from one cam to the next. Shaft 80 is driven clockwise, as seen in Figure 4, through a helical gear drive 82 which receives power from press I8 through shaft.94; See Figure 1. Drive 82 could be any other type of connection, such as bevel gears or a worm and gear.

Additional means for tripping stop members 61 out of work holding position may be provided in the form of a lost-motion connection comprising a bar 88. Bar 88 extends across all of members I4. and is connected to and-held in place by one or more links I00 reciprocably mounted in any suitable support I02. Movable core I03 of solenoid I04 may be connected to reciprocate links I00. The purpose of solenoidoperated trip 38 is to enable dumping" of all stops 6'! simultaneously whenever desired, such as when the machine is shut down. For this purpose, solenoid I04 may be so arranged as to be momentarily energized upon the interruption of power to the press, permitting the emptying of all of heater units 32 of work pieces so that no piece will remain in the furnace long enough for that piece to be melted. Alternatively, the system could be so arranged that solenoid I04 would be continuously energized during operation of the press with bar 98 moved out of dumping position during such operation. In this case, a spring, not shown, could be applied to move bar 98 and its associated linkage into the dumping position upon shutting down of the press.

Shown in Figures 4- and 5 is the sprocket-andchain drive I06 which supplies power from camshaft 80 to the rolls 50 through the said chainand-sprocket drive, a shaft I08 and a bevel gear connection H0. As is best see in Figure 5, each of rolls 50 is connected to a drive gear II2 through a shaft II4. Between pairs of adjacent gears II2 are disposed idler gears II6 which transmit the drive from, the gear II2 on the extreme right as seen in Figure 5 to the remaining rolls, and which result in rolls 50 all being driven in the same direction.

As seen in Figure 6, heater unit 32 comprises a jacket II8 of insulation material, lined with a sleeve I20, having bushings or end pieces I22 and I24 which serve as spacers or locaters of sleeve I20 with respect to jacket II8. Members II8, I20, I22 and I24 will preferably be made of an insulating material such as any suitable refractory or ceramic material. In the annular space between jacket H8 and sleeve I20 may be disposed an electrical heating coil I26. As

stated above, the method of heating unit 32 is described in detail and claimed in copending application S. N. 401,888, filed July 11, 1941,

Figure 7 is a section substantially on line 1-1 of Figure 4 showing in detail a portion of camshaft 80 with four of the six earns 86 and the linkage associated with operating members I8 for of chute is a tapering member I28 which is determined angular position. Work ipiece 42 member I28 there is a comparatively narrow channel I 34 in which is disposed means for intercepting work pieces to prevent their being con' ducted to the dies of the press. These intercepting means comprise gates I36 and I38. As can be readily seen in Figure 9, gate I36 is a panel I40 in the lower wall of channel I34 pivoted about an axis I42. An apron or deflector sheet I44 may be provided on the outside of pin I42 to avoid the possibility of interference with the descendin work pieces by hinge member I42.- Any suitable latch means such as the spring-biased ball assembly I46 may be used to hold gate I36 in its closed position. If desired, a handle, not shown, may be attached to gate I36 to permit manual operation thereof. An auxiliary chute shown in dotted lines at I48 in Figure 8 may be provided to conduct the intercepted work pieces tosome suitable delivery point, such as to the floor somewhere near the press. A convenient use for gate I36 and chute I48 is to run the heated work pieces out for inspection before they are fed to the die to make sure that they are being heated properly.

For the automatic operation of gate I36 a solenoid I50 may be provided. The operating plunger or core I52 of solenoid I50 may be connected to gate actuating member I54 which may operate gate I36 through a link I56. A guide for member I54 may be provided in the form of a slot I58 formed in housing I60. The pin connecting members I54 and I56 may be extended somewhat so as to operate in slot I58. I v

In addition to gate I36, gate I38 is provided as a positive stop across the channel of member I34. Gate I38 does not provide for any new path to be taken by the work pieces as does gate I36 but merely keeps them from passing beyond to the press. I Gate I38 is adapted to reciprocate in guide member I62. This gate also may be actuated by solenoid I50 through plunger I52 and actuating member I54.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that solenoid I50 may be energized in any of a number of ways for satisfactory operation of gates I36 and I38. For. example, solenoid I50 may be so connected with the controls of the press as to be energized while the press is in operation and in its energized position to hold gates I35 and I38 open to permit the passage of work pieces to tube I64 and thence to the dies of the press. In that case, a spring, not shown, could be provided to operate gates I36 and I38 into their intercepting positions upon shutting down of press I8. However, we prefer to connect solenoid I50 in such a manner as to energize it for moving gates I36 and I38 into work piece intercepting position upon shutting down of the press. A spring, not shown, may for this connection be provided to move plunger I52 to gate open position when the solenoid is not energized.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: Work pieces 42 in the form of cut rod stock are fed from hopper I2 through chute 44 to conveyor I4 where they are received in recesses 40 and are' carried up to their point of distribution immediately above distributor 28. In distributor 28 are disposed stacking means 49 into which work pieces 42 fall from recesses 40 of conveyor I4. Disposed below each stacking means 46 is a roll 50 having a material receiving recess 52. As recess 52 of roll 50 comes into alignment with the stack of work pieces 42, a single piece drops into the recess and is carried around by rotation of roll 50. Retainer 54 keeps work piece 42 in recess 52 until roll 50 has rotated recess 52 into a prethereupon drops out of recess 52 into chute 56. One end of workpiece 42 contacts anysuitable stop member 58 to turn work piece 42 into a substantially vertical position, in which position work piece 42 drops down into heater unit 32 of furnace 30. Stop member 61 keeps work piece 42 from dropping straight through heater unit 32. After a predetermined time interval, permitting heatl0 ing of work piece 42 to the desired temperature, cam 86 engages downwardly extending member 84 of operating member I8 which moves stop 61 out of work piece holding position through the above described linkage. The heated work piece 42 thereupon drops down into chute 34 and is conducted to the dies of press I8. It hasbeen pointed out that conveyor I4 is positively driven from press I8. Likewise, camshaft 90 which serves as the timer for stops 6'! is positively driven from ress I8 and distributor 28 is driven through a chain-and-sprocket connection to camshaft 90. It is seen then that all moving parts of the apparatus are operated in synchronism with the press. This has been found desirable for most successful operation. It may be pointed out here that we have obtained best operating results by so arranging conveyor I4 in relation to recesses 52 of rolls 50 that a work piece drops out of stacking means 48 into recess 52 at a time when there is 80 no work piece directly opposite the upper end of the stack, and a work piece drops into stacking member 49 after recess 52 has rotated past the stack. In other words, best operation of the apparatus has been obtained by not taking work 85 pieces from stacking means at the same time that work pieces are fed to these means.

When the press is shut down, solenoid I04 is momentarily energized tomove all of stops 61 substantially simultaneously into the dotted line position shown in Figure 4, dumping" or releasing all of work pieces 42 from the furnace. At the same time, gates I36 and I38 are actuated as above described into work intercepting position to keep any insufliciently heated stock from 5 passing to the press.

We claim: 4 1. In combination, an endless belt conveyor, means to supply cut stock to the conveyor, a distributor adapted to receive stock from the conveyor, a heater positioned to receive stock from the distributor by means of gravity, a stop engaging the stock to hold the same in position to be heated, stop retracting means, a chute positioned to receive stock from the heater when the stop is retracted, a metal working machine positioned to receive stock from the chute and means for actuating the conveyor, distributor. and stop retracting means in synchronism with the metal working machine.

having a stock receiving station and a stock distributing station, means to supply elongated stock to the conveyor at the stock receiving station, a distributor at the stock distributing Station adapted to receive the stock pieces, a heater positioned to receive stock from the distributor by means of gravity, a stop engaging the stock to hold the same in position to be heated, stop retracting means, a metal working machine, means including an inclined chute for transmitting heated stock from the heater to the metal working machine and means for actuating the conveyor. distributor, and stop retracting means in synchronism with the metal work- [6 in: machine.

2. In combination, an endless belt conveyor surface thereof to receive the lowermost elongated stock piece from the stacking means and move said stock piece to a position where the stock piece may be discharged by means of gravity into the said first chute, means in the first chute to turn the stock piece through 96, said first chute directing by means of gravity the stock piece endwise into the heater, stop means,

engaging the forward end or the stock piece and holding the stock piece in positionto be heated, means for withdrawing the stop member when the stock piece has'been heated, a second chute to receive by means of gravity the heated stock piece when the stop is withdrawn, and a work forming machine for normally receiving a heated stock piece by means of the second chute.

4. An apparatus as in claim 3 which includes a means in the second chute to prevent stock pieces from being fed to the forming machine upon interruption of the power supply to the forming machine.

5. An apparatus as in claim 3 which includes a gate swingably mounted in the second chute and actuable to a position to intercept a stock piece and direct it away from the forming machine, and a second gate actuable to block passage of a stock piece through the second chute.

6. Inapparatus of the class described, a roll having recesses adapted to receive, elongated work pieces, means disposed above each roll to support a stack of work pieces the lowermost of which is in contact with the roll, means to rotate the roll to bring the recess into work piece receiving and releasing positions, a first chute below the roll to receive the work piece when released, a heating unit below said first chute, a movable step below the heating unit to hold a work piece in position to be heated, means to move the stop out of work holding position,

a machine for forming heated work pieces, and a second chute to feed heated work pieces to the forming machine when the stop is out of work holding position, said roller and stop moving means being actuated in synchronism'with the forming machine.

7. An apparatus as in claim 6, which includes a gate in the second chute actuable to intercept work pieces to prevent them going to the ji'orming machine.

8. An apparatus as in claim 6, which includes a gate swingably mounted in the second chute and actuable to a position to intercept work pieces moving through the chute to direct them away from the forming machine, and a second gate actuable to block passage through the second chute to. the forming machine.

9. An apparatus as in claim 6, which includes a gate in the second chute actuable to intercept work pieces to prevent them going to the forming machine and an electrical means to actuate the gate.

GEORGE A. SPALDING. MARLEY A. PALMER. 

